Richard Jackson: Ain’t Painting a Pain is the first retrospective devoted to one of the most radical artists of the last 40 years. Based in Los Angeles since the early 1970s, Jackson has expanded the definition and practice of painting more than any other contemporary figure. His wildly inventive, exuberant, and irreverent take on “action” painting has dramatically extended its performative dimensions, merged it with sculpture, and repositioned it as an art of everyday experience. Presented as a series of room-size installations—site-specific wall paintings, painted environments, monumental stacked canvases, and anthropomorphic painting “machines”—Ain’t Painting a Pain presents major works never before seen in the United States, including a sculpture that was conceived early in his career but never built and a major new work to be completed in 2012. A 350-page, full-color catalogue with essays by Dennis Szakacs, John C. Welchman, Michael Darling, Jeffrey Weiss, and Hans Ulrich Obrist will accompany the exhibition. Richard Jackson: Ain’t Painting a Pain will travel to Villa Museum Stûck in Münich and two additional European museums.

Richard Jackson: Ain’t Painting a Pain is organized by the Orange County Museum of Art and curated by OCMA Director Dennis Szakacs.

Richard Jackson: Ain’t Painting a Pain is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Jean and Tim Weiss, Rennie Collection, Vancouver and Hauser & Wirth. The catalogue is underwritten by Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. Additional support is provided by David Kordansky Gallery